But you love me

A killer horn

Raelyn POV:

'You good, R?' Hawk asked, strapping my belt up.

'Never. Been. Better.' I gritted my teeth as he finished prepping me. I'd always loathed being backstage before a fight, somehow its the place where I tend to feel, let's say, emotional.

Right now, I was thinking about Adrienne. Had she woken up? Was she comfortable? What if her leg was hurting her a lot? Had I left enough food?
What would she think if I never came back?

I shook my head, preparing for the fight.
First, there was Mallory and Silver. I knew that in the event where I beat Ceraius, I'd want to face Mallory.

Silver is a large bloke, with terrifyingly strong arms, and an uncanny agility for his size. Mallory, on the other hand, is small and less bulked up, but is good with a rope.

Upon entering the area, there is only one weapon allowed per person.
No guns.

I just don't take any. I made Henry do a background check before he got here. He found out that the beer they sell is fake, and the weapons are rigged.

You're more likely to win without, than with.

So Mallory, a newcomer around here, should be an easy target.

Ceraius is a different matter. She's small, but with the flexibility of an acro-dancer.
She has strong arms, which she uses to carry a huge hammer.

Again, wrong move.

Now for myself.
I'm thin, but quite tall and muscular.
I'm also very quick, and know my opponents weaknesses within seconds.

I sat in my part of the wing, staring at the scoreboard. Mallory vs Silver, Silver. Celarius vs Mallory, Mallory.

My head was beginning to hurt from the stress, so I laid back, and tried to relax.

The horn sounded.
'A. MALLORY, N. SILVER.' Predictable match, if I'm honest.

The crowd was screaming Silver's name, and I stretched, going to find some water.

When I came back, Henry came running up to me.
'If you beat Ceraius, you're up with Mallory.'

'When I beat Ceraius', I corrected. I wasn't so sure now, with my last prediction gone so far south. Henry nodded and smiled, before going off to check the board.

The horn sounded once more.
'R. GREYHOUND, T. CERAIUS'

Here we go.

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Adrienne's POV:

Unlike what Matt had expected, I didn't close my eyes during the first match. I watched intently, and rather curiously. The way they fought was like bears, tearing at each other's throats.
They would toss themselves on each other, and Matt explained that the smaller one had changed tactics since the last match, where he'd pulled through by the skin of his teeth.

I'd only closed my eyes when Silver lost.

But now that the second match was about to start, I just buried my face in Matt's arm, and he hugged me comfortingly.

As T. Ceraius took the stage, I felt a shiver run through me. She had deepset eyes, which you could hardly make out through the dim lighting. She was swinging, or rather dragging a large hammer behind her.

On the other side of the podium, came Raelyn. She was wearing an all black body-tight suit, and if this wasn't a matter of life or death I'd be drooling. She was grinning her smug smile. But I knew that behind that smile she must be scared. I could see it in the way her ears were back, like a cat.

Raelyn and Ceraius took to the stage. Raelyn bowed, and Ceraius copied her, faltering a little. Good.

When Ceraius stood back up, the whistle sounded, and any inkling of courtesy which had previously been displayed, was now lost.

Tiana, for that's what Matt said her name is, pounced on Raelyn, but she dodged her attack, and instead of counterattacking, she simply strolled to the opposite end of the ring, leaning against the ropes.

Tiana threw herself at Raelyn once more, but she grabbed her hammer and twisted, clearly breaking Tiana's arm.

There came a bellow from the crowd, and Raelyn got back up, tossing the hammer out of the ring. She didn't see
Tiana get up and jump on her back.

I winced as she punched Raelyn's head over and over, and was about to turn away when Raelyn flipped them over and straddled Tiana. This didn't last long, and soon they were both separate again, crouching and panting.

Suddenly, Tiana charged and knocked the wind out of Raelyn. She was stunned, and faltered backwards.
I heard Matt mumble shit, and I closed my eyes.

When I looked up once more, Tiana was face down on the ring floor.

The crowd counted.. 1.. 2..

Tiana writhed and screeched, but Raelyn held her down.

3.

Tiana collapsed, and Raelyn stood up, and walked straight out of the podium, without a glance back.

Someone came to remove Tiana's body, and I looked up at Matt with tears in my eyes.

He wiped them with his thumb and brought me into a hug.

'She's a monster.' I cried, angrily kicking my feet.

'We have twenty minutes before the next horn. Let me tell you a bit more about Raelyn.'